Open mike 25/02/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 25th, 2013 - 84 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

84 comments on “Open mike 25/02/2013 ”

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  1. Jenny 1
    25 February 2013 at 6:30 am

    Som good news from the Green Party website.

    A link to a blogpost by Gareth Hughes that mentions the climate has appeared on the Green Party home page.

    http://www.greens.org.nz/

    Is this a break with the policy of censoring any mention of Climate Change from the Green Party’s official home page?

    The blog post by Gareth Hughes relates to Solid Energy’s recent decision to drop their plan to mine lignite in Southland, which Gareth describes as “a win for the climate”.

    Can we expect to see other mentions of climate change on the Green Party home page?

    Or, will this link only stay up for the length of the current news cycle?

    • karol 1.1
      25 February 2013 at 8:06 am

      Actually the higher profiled speech by Russel Norman on smart green agriculture, linked on the home page, says a lot more about climate change. It’s also mentioned as a crucial issue in Turei’s 2013 State of the Planet Speech that’s been featured on the GP home page for a while.

      I think their way of embedding climate change in wider issues will result in more people paying attention to it than hitting people between the eyes with it at every opportunity – shows how it’s embedded in everything we do.

      Greens never stopped talking about climate change.

      • saarbo 1.1.1
        25 February 2013 at 8:23 am

        Yes Karol, I reckon Norman’s speech on Agriculture is spot on the mark, exactly what Farming needs in New Zealand.

      • Colonial Weka 1.1.2
        25 February 2013 at 9:56 am

        Agreed Karol, and it will reach the people who won’t follow an obvious CC link.

      • Jenny 1.1.3
        25 February 2013 at 6:52 pm

        Actually the higher profiled speech by Russel Norman on smart green agriculture, linked on the home page, says a lot more about climate change. It’s also mentioned as a crucial issue in Turei’s 2013 State of the Planet Speech that’s been featured on the GP home page for a while.

        karol

        A crucial issue?

        Meteiria Turei’s State of the Planet Speech only mentioned climate change briefly in passing, and only mentioned it at all, because it couldn’t be avoided. She also didn’t call for comprehensive measures to cut CO2 emissions.

        Russel Norman’s speech on agriculture is good. But I expect that it won’t stay up long. It also didn’t address the issue of coal. The dairy industry as a whole is the number one user of coal in this country. Remember that coal is the number 1 single greatest cause of global warming. Russel Norman makes no demands on the dairy industry to switch from coal to less polluting alternatives. His talk was generally short on advocating any comprehensive action against climate change, concentrating more on economic issues.

        The trajectory of the Green Party is quite clear, and points to a monumental sell out on the question of climate change which is the issue of our generation.

        As we approach closer to the elections, I imagine that if the Green Party stick to the same trajectory, mentions of climate change will get less and less.

        Mark my words Karol, you will be kicking yourself when in the final analyse the Greens run an election campaign which avoids debating the necessary actions over climate change needed to be taken to avoid catastrophe. And then signs up to a government that approves deep sea oil drilling, fracking and the rape of the Denniston Plateau for the coal export market.

        Middle class support which is currently flowing from Labour to the Greens, will then collapse back into the Labour Party. And parliamentary business as usual will be resumed.

        But no matter, like Joska Fischer of the German Greens, for their treachery, Norman, or Turei, possibly both, will be rewarded with permanent places on the Labour Party list.

        However in the real world the climate will not be denied. In the real world the climate will smash into this country as it will all others.

        The Green Party if they are remembered at all, will be remembered as a failed experiment in parliament democracy, that strived for little and achieved less.

        • Colonial Weka 1.1.3.1
          25 February 2013 at 11:25 pm

          “Russel Norman makes no demands on the dairy industry to switch from coal to less polluting alternatives.”

          Maybe, but the GP policy on farming supports what you want. Go read it.

          “And then signs up to a government that approves deep sea oil drilling, fracking and the rape of the Denniston Plateau for the coal export market.”

          I actually agree with you that this is a risk. I think it’s a much smaller risk than you do, but it’s there nevertheless. But I don’t see *you* doing anything useful to try and change that. Slagging off the GP every chance you get just makes the situation worse. I’d like to know what you think will happen if people pay attention to you. Do you think they will do anything?

          “The Green Party if they are remembered at all, will be remembered as a failed experiment in parliament democracy, that strived for little and achieved less”

          You don’t have to sound so hopeful Jenny.

          • Jenny 1.1.3.1.1
            28 February 2013 at 5:43 am

            If you agree with me. Then I have achieved something already.

            To answer your question:

            I’d like to know what you think will happen if people pay attention to you. Do you think they will do anything?

            I would like to think, that people like yourself would do something.

            The first thing of course, would be to convince the Green Party to agree to make Climate Change an electoral issue in 2014.

            This is important. If climate change issues are not raised and debated in the elections then the Greens will have no mandate to raise climate change issues in government and will be in a very weak position to oppose government policies that increase the risk.

            It probably wouldn’t hurt if people like yourself within the Green Party started agitating to make climate change a Green Party “Priority” rather than just one of the Green Party’s 59 “Other issues”.

            Personally I would like to see the Green Party to start agitating within parliament to halt all coal exports and imports. This could be done with a private members bill that would put pressure on the Labour Party to declare where they stand on this issue.

            Here is a good backgrounder on the danger of coal exports from Greenpeace, though written by Australia Greenpeace. It could equally apply here.

            http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/greenpeace-nz-news/~3/wbzjrOuoM68/

            It also wouldn’t hurt if the Green Party would give climate change a mention on their home page.

            Maybe the Green Party might like to link to Naomi Klein’s “Fight like hell” interview.

            • Jenny 1.1.3.1.1.1
              28 February 2013 at 6:08 am

              “This is recognition that we are now beyond what is a normal dry summer, and into an extreme climatic event.”

              New Zealand Government

              Government declares drought in Northland

              http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1302/S00431/government-declares-drought-in-northland.htm

              Should the Green Party call for a high profile parliamentary inquiry into the crisis in the climate. Just as they did for the crisis in manufacturing?

              For an environmental party they seem to have very odd priorities.

              Maybe a parliamentary enquiry is something else they could do, if the GP began to take climate change seriously?

              Will they do it?

              Or will they keep ignoring climate change on their way to political oblivion.

    • Rogue Trooper 1.2
      25 February 2013 at 12:47 pm

      RNZ- Prof Ewan Mason, Forestry Studies U.C, on the ETS (and related plantings);
      NZ now a dumping ground for worthless credits
      -unrestricted imports of credits from overseas
      -e.g, ex USSR
      -exclusion of agriculture a “driver down”
      Forestry concerns when harvests mature in 2020 (placed 1990’s on)
      -since 2000 decline in plantings (more attractive investment options)
      -wood commodities prices have declined over 15-20 years

      If the dairy producers came on board emissions regulation it may only affect gross margins 5-6%

      Eats, shoots and leaves,
      http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Growing-Gardens-for-Free-Geoff-Bryant/9781869534929

    • QoT 1.3
      25 February 2013 at 10:19 pm

      the policy of censoring any mention

      Citation needed. Yet again. And no, Jenny, “but they don’t mention climate change as often as I like” is not the same as alleging a specific, deliberate, active policy of censorship.

      This is why people don’t rally to your cause. Because you make shit up and can’t even back it up convincingly.

  2. mickysavage 2
    25 February 2013 at 7:25 am

    The Government can afford $3.1 million a year to save Wanganui Collegiate against advice and even though there was an abundance of capacity in the Wanganui area yet cannot afford $5 million a year to save our Kauri.

    It has a strange sense of priorities.

    • yeshe 2.1
      25 February 2013 at 8:09 am

      And here’s more stupid from stupid … and all this on a day when Herald announces Gnats have enough votes in a poll to govern alone … oh, my !!

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/8328016/Chch-Govt-destroying-our-communities

      “It seems backwards to close a consistently high performing school that has a new million dollar learning studio, is fully networked and has, up until now, had a stable roll despite the exodus of families in the red zone.

      Freeville already educates for the future, and has for years been a model school, showcasing the future of education for other teachers, schools and education professionals. I fail to see how taking us out of our purpose-designed and operated school, and merging us with another school with completely different teaching practices and old classrooms will be better for my children’s education.”

      • pollywog 2.1.1
        25 February 2013 at 8:43 am

        Pfffft…poll dancing!!!

        *yawn* zzzzzzzzzzz….Nexxxt

      • bad12 2.1.2
        25 February 2013 at 9:15 am

        The Alfred E Nuemann of New Zealand television Patrick Gower fronting a poll from Reid Research on behalf of MediaWorks which owns TV3, and that’s in any way believable???,

        Considering that that particular poll has for at least the past 2 years polled the National Party as having the % numbers to ‘govern alone’ i would suggest that there is something very wrong with their methodology,

        This perceived inaccuracy of course has nothing to do with the fact that the company which pays for this poll, TV3 is owned by MediaWorks which was given a $42 million loan guarantee by Slippery’s National Government,

        Neither does the fact that Steven Joyce, the Minister of Fuxit was at one time a highly visible shareholder in MediaWorks effect the poll, how could it, after-all ‘there is no corruption in New Zealand’

        i cannot tell at this stage whether Joyce still has a substantial share-holding in MediaWorks or it’s Australian parent company Ironbridge Capital, if He does it is well hidden inside the ‘declared’ blind trust Joyce is a beneficiary of…

        • tc 2.1.2.1
          25 February 2013 at 10:23 am

          and the spin continues, they smothered the electorate in 2011 with the mantra that it’s national again so lots stayed away from the polls thinking their vote was not going to do much….wrong but well done MSM monkeys and mates.

          So this is the new mantra now is it, Muppet boy toothing the Gnats can govern alone.

          As there will not be any MP/ACT/UF stooges along for the ride they pretty much appear to have set the stall up for this new line, fair enough when you’ve got docile yes men to peddle it why not, goes along nicely with the brighter future, lovin wages dropping, roaring out of recession via a cycleway, let’s be like ireland etc etc

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.3
        25 February 2013 at 10:24 am

        Freeville already educates for the future, and has for years been a model school, showcasing the future of education for other teachers, schools and education professionals. I fail to see how taking us out of our purpose-designed and operated school, and merging us with another school with completely different teaching practices and old classrooms will be better for my children’s education.

        It won’t be but it’ll be great for the new private charter school that will get it cheap from the government.

    • vto 2.2
      25 February 2013 at 9:09 am

      .
      money for rich schools

      money for rich taxpayers

      money for rich farmers

      money for rich finance company investors

      money for the rich! that is this government’s record

      • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1
        25 February 2013 at 10:25 am

        +1

      • aerobubble 2.2.2
        25 February 2013 at 2:45 pm

        One argument against a negative income tax is that voters will keep voting to raise it,
        since 50% of people will be below average income. Of course, this ignores the reality
        of our present situation where most people kept voting for more profits from banks
        printing private money. Which shows why a negative income tax could not get
        out of control since the rich would use their immense power to stop it, but who
        stops the richest gaming the system as they have?

        We will look back at the last thirty years and wonder why we spent the oil windfall
        on yachts and booze rather than securing environmental stability and finding its
        replacement. Thatcher will be up there with Hitler for cannibalizing the economy
        for narrow short term power grab.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.2.2.2
          25 February 2013 at 5:57 pm

          One argument against a negative income tax is that voters will keep voting to raise it…

          IMO, only if the capitalists, economists and politicians keep telling them that there’s no limit to the economy. If they’re told what resources we have and where they’re going then I’m sure that those limits will be adhered to.

          • aerobubble 2.2.2.2.1
            26 February 2013 at 10:33 am

            Less direct benefit to the rch will insure tht any negative income tax would never threaten the public backed slush fund that the rich seem increasingly able to raid. Isn’t that how many get
            rich, those who don’t innovate, those who aren’t born rich, or find a new niche, they gets someone elses money and risk that, taxpayers, pensions, or people’s nestegg (or in a ponsi scheme no risk at all to the ponsi fraudster).

    • fatty 2.3
      25 February 2013 at 9:11 am

      National fund failed private schools as they close CHCH schools…Homebrew called this out a few years ago – “socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor” …”what they know about missing the bus, they keep the bread and they give us the crust”

    • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 2.4
      25 February 2013 at 11:25 am

      NACTs – strange full stop.

    • Rogue Trooper 2.5
      25 February 2013 at 12:48 pm

      against treasury, ministry and ministerial advice (why bother asking)

    • Murray Olsen 2.6
      25 February 2013 at 2:53 pm

      The government is still rewarding the Wanganui patriots for saving our civilisation from Te Whiti and his violent terrorist insurgents at Parihaka, and the Royal Navy no longer needs kauri spars. It is even possible that the few remaining kauri are growing on land that could be profitably mined, giving us all a more aspirational future.

  3. yeshe 3
    25 February 2013 at 8:14 am

    Someone please send this to Gareth Morgan …

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXZDJP2xbBw&noredirect=1

  4. JBug 4
    25 February 2013 at 9:14 am

    So, the reshuffle is apparently out today. Will be a big test of whether David Shearer is going to be a puppet of the status quo or whether he will actually bring some unity to the party. I hope the latter and he uses this as an opportunity to bring the factions together. We need a merit-based senior leadership team in Parliament and our best and our brightest on the front bench. We are missing too many opportunities. Cunliffe has to get some meaty porfolios and a higher ranking. It is pettiness to leave him on the backbench as the NZHerald is predicting. He’s one of the top performers in the House (I see his speech responding to the PMs Speech is only second to Shearer in the number of views and his IMF one is also doing the rounds). Ironically, the NZH is calling King one of our most effective MPs in the House – interestingly her speeches don’t even rate. This is such an opportunity. Let’s hope Shearer doesn’t blow it by being petty and unstrategic.

  5. AsleepWhileWalking 5
    25 February 2013 at 9:21 am

    Frank asks, “How could Solid Energy’s financial position go from a pre-tax profit of $127.5 million (see: Solid Energy shines despite earthquakes) in August 2011 – to a massive $389 million debt this year? Did National gouge one of our cash-state-cows?”

    http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/that-was-then-this-is-now-18-solid-energy/

    • DH 5.1
      25 February 2013 at 10:15 am

      “Did National gouge one of our cash-state-cows?:

      Yes they did, and Labour were just as bad if not worse. The SOEs have been used to hide real Govt debt, borrowing by SOEs doesn’t show as debt in the Crown accounts. The adoption of IFRS by the Govt permitted the beancounters to constantly revalue assets of the SOEs to ‘fair market value’. Those revaluations were mostly upwards which brought paper profits, the SOEs then borrowed against the assets to pay the Govt a dividend.

      One of the reasons SolidEnergy are in trouble is because they paid dividends when they were making considerable capital investments, the dividends should have been kept as retained earnings to fund the capital projects. But Bill English wanted cash for his books so he, or his minions, milked the SOEs.

    • tc 5.2
      25 February 2013 at 10:47 am

      Add the milking of the power sector to this and consider what happens after floating of the generators and your power bill.

      • DH 5.2.1
        25 February 2013 at 11:01 am

        Yep. Was a time when accounting was a proud profession, ‘true and fair view’ meant what it said. Now it’s just a shameful parody that creates facades for crumbling edifices.

        One of the ironies about the asset sales business is that both Labour & National have been selling off our assets for decades. They just did it the sly & deceitful way – sold them to bankers & their ilk.

    • muzza 5.3
      25 February 2013 at 11:05 am

      Anyone find a trace of derivatives in the accounts?

      • Chris 5.3.1
        25 February 2013 at 11:33 am

        They haven’t released the accounts yet as far as I know but there were $30m or so in 2011.

        Also in reponse to the original post comparing profit in 2011 to debt in 2012 is ridiculous. The opposite of profit is not debt.

        Far more useful to compare debt in 2011 with debt in 2012 (gone from $220m to $386m) still shows a bad picture but actually makes sense.

      • DH 5.3.2
        25 February 2013 at 12:04 pm

        2012 accounts reported interest rate swap contracts of some $200 million. They don’t appear to be contributing to the problem though, from what I can make of the accounts they posted a gain on those in 2012.

        The first problem is cashflow, from June accounts;

        “Cashflows from operations were $142 million compared to $129 million in 2011, with increased cash receipts from higher prices. Capital investment totalled $162 million”

        They invested more than they made in nett earnings yet still paid the Govt a $30million dividend which can only have come from borrowing. Kinda mind boggling really.

        Problem today is the debt has gone from $295million in June 2012 to $385million now which is a very big jump. But we don’t know yet what the extra borrowing was for – to cover trading losses or for more investment. Needs to be a bit more clarity on it.

    • Draco T Bastard 6.1
      25 February 2013 at 10:29 am

      Yep. Typical of private businesses who get government contracts – under quote and then, because it can’t be allowed to fail, demand more money.

      • Chris 6.1.1
        25 February 2013 at 11:28 am

        To be fair to them they haven’t yet demanded any money. They have warned investors that although they have a profit there will be additional costs next period and they are looking at alternative approaches to keep a lid on the costs.

        They certainly may try and demand more money but is pretty unfair to criticize them for it before they have done it.

        • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.1
          25 February 2013 at 12:18 pm

          So, they will have a lower profit next period. This means that there will be less investors and thus they will need more money from the government to do what needs to be done (and what they should have done with the ~$17b in profit that they’ve pulled out over the last 20 years).

          • Chris 6.1.1.1.1
            25 February 2013 at 12:51 pm

            I said in my comment that they may go to government. However,there are also other options for funding if they believe it is unlikely the government will give them more money. All I am trying to point out is it is pretty harsh to criticize someone for something they actually haven’t done.

  7. ianmac 7
    25 February 2013 at 10:12 am

    “Education Minister Hekia Parata recommended that Wanganui Collegiate should not be integrated into the state system, but she was rolled by her Cabinet colleagues. ….”

    Well who is running the Ministry of Ed? The Minister is supposed to have sole decision…. unless it is the National Government.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/8345722/Parata-overruled-on-Collegiate-integration

    • Puddleglum 7.1
      25 February 2013 at 7:40 pm

      Well, it’s hearsay but apparently Brownlee and Joyce were de facto running the Christchurch School ‘reforms’ and making the decisions.

      For example, moving the schools’ merger/closure deadlines forward by one or two years (so that it’s all done by 2014) explicitly reversed one of Parata’s public commitments after the September announcements. I imagine she was over-ruled and that commitment was dumped once the electoral calculations (or some other priorities concerning the ‘rebuild’ process) were put into the mix. The collateral damage was to her reputation.

      I get the strong impression that Parata has been repeatedly set up to be the fall ‘guy’ – she does not appear to be taken seriously within Cabinet except as someone to take the flak. But then, if I am correct, she has let this happen and must take some responsibility for that.

  8. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 8
    25 February 2013 at 10:50 am

    Hearing about the Pistorius killing, and then that a brother is charged with a road killing brought Colin Bouwer to mind. He cam to NZ as a psychiatrist, once head of Psychiatry at U.of Otago, and then decided he didn’t want his wife any more and the best and most efficient way to get rid of her was to kill her by extremely devious and cunning means. Then his son (who had been given the same name!) was charged and convicted with murder of his wife, in South Africa.

    This thinkpiece by The Guardian talks about the disgraceful way that South Africa is developing. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/22/oscar-pistorius-south-africa-war-women
    The sick, wrong-thinking attitudes that grew under aparthheid live on. Notable comments –
    * …the patriarchal nature of apartheid ideology created hierarchies based on gender as well as race.
    * While the country’s gun culture is by no means comparable to that of the US, paranoia about violent crime in a post-apartheid era has extended the laager mentality that emerged during the rule of the National party.
    * …the black South Africans’ experience of violent crime in the township, where the “corrective rape” of lesbians gives new meaning to the cynical term “paper rights” – constitutional rights that mean nothing in practice.

    paranoia about violent crime in a post-apartheid era has extended the laager mentality that emerged during the rule of the National party. (The term refers to the defensive circle created by the wagons of colonial-era settlers, effectively creating a mobile fort against attacks by indigenous Africans. Settlers would hide inside these wagon forts with their guns on the ready in the event of an attack.)

    Under apartheid, white paranoia about being murdered by vengeful “natives” helped the National party to consolidate its political power, as well as to justify the conscription of white males to defend South Africa’s borders against “communists” – shorthand for the African National Congress’s military wing. Many white South African males were compulsorily drafted, and a large number of young soldiers fought in border wars with Angola and Mozambique. In addition, the patriarchal nature of apartheid ideology created hierarchies based on gender as well as race.

    Black citizens on the other hand experienced the structural violence of apartheid policies, and faced brutal repression in their struggle for civil rights. The landmark murders in Sharpeville and Soweto were the tip of the iceberg – the disappearance of activists and the torture of detainees became a feature of everyday life.…

    In 2002 the SAPS recorded 21,738 murders compared to 299,411 attempted murders and serious assaults in the country.
    http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/CrimeQ/No.7/Thomson.htm

    More from the Guardian – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/17/south-africa-macho-society-oscar-pistorious
    the Black Friday Campaign for Rape Awareness in honour of Anene Booysen. The 17-year-old died after her ex-boyfriend and others allegedly gang raped and disembowelled her on 2 February 2013.
    (Note – very soon after the New Delhi woman Jyoti Singh Pandey.was also raped, killed and dealt with in the same way. – http://mg.co.za/article/2013-02-15-00-will-anene-booysens-brutal-rape-and-murder-shake-the-nation-into-action)

    “The massive problem we need to understand in South Africa is the level of men’s violence against women and against each other,” said Lisa Vetten, a researcher who specialises in domestic abuse. Police statistics on domestic violence are limited. But 15,609 murders and 64,500 reported rapes in 2011-12 suggest massive levels of violence in South African homes.

    Household surveys by the MRC have found that 40% of men have hit their partner and one in four men have raped a woman. Three-quarters of men who admit to having raped women say they did so first as teenagers. The MRC found that, while a quarter of women had been raped, just 2% of those raped by a partner reported the incident to police.

  9. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 9
    25 February 2013 at 11:12 am

    Great informative talk on emissions trading in NZ and how it is being rorted – with government assisting all the way – so units are selling now for about $2.40 when they should be $24. At the low price, because of unfettered imports that this mendacious government is encouraging, it is destroying the economy of forest planting that the scheme as originally envisaged would have fostered.
    Associate professor at the NZ School of Forestry at Canterbury University Euan Mason on the Emissions Trading Scheme
    09:29
    Is the Emissions Trading Scheme dead?
    With Associate Professor Euan Mason – Professor Mason says NZ is failing to respond to climate change and it’s an international embarassment. (21′52″)

    And the value of pinus radiata just left in place fostering native birds who would seed the ground with native plants and trees is one advantage from pinus. Another is to assist sheep farmers to have a better return from their high country and so be less close to non-profit. And he mentioned the big floods in the North Island some time ago with rain and silt washing down from bare hills that should be covered and protected by a mantle of trees.

    And which took I think he said, $200 million of mostly taxpayer’s money to clear and restore for farming use. (I may have inadvertently added in some 0’s but that’s what it’s like with government money allocations isn’t it, they wax and wane depending on the recipient and outcome’s value to the particular party.)

    It’s a pity that we are reverting in NZ to the more primitive kind of political man. All the way up from slimy centipedes to apes and hominoids and now, not too slowly back.

  10. muzza 10
    25 February 2013 at 11:16 am

    http://pundit.co.nz/content/no-rules-for-nz-police-surveillance-drones

    The fact that UAVs can provide insight into private properties from a perspective that is not readily accessible to ordinary members of the public, and into areas where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy is recognised in Seattle – but not in New Zealand.

    But if you think the Seattle police manual provides an adequate level of protections for citizen’s civil rights and reasonable expectations of privacy, the citizens of Seattle do not. This month, Seattle’s mayor Mike McGinn and his police chief John Diaz agreed that it was time to end the city’s UAV programme ”so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department’s priority.”

    Seattle’s decision to ground its drones comes as lawmakers in at least 11 other states of the United States are considering plans to restrict the use of UAVS in their skies in response to mounting concern that drone surveillance technology can be exploited to spy and pry into law abiding citizen’s private lives.

  11. fenderviper 11
    25 February 2013 at 11:31 am

    hahahaha

    Matthew Hooton thinks backroom corruption deals a la skycity convention centre is ‘hands-on’ government….what a dropkick.

    And Mike Williams didn’t say ‘I agree with Matthew’ even once!

    • bad12 11.1
      25 February 2013 at 11:51 am

      Yeah the ‘i agree show’ has turned into something else , the usual sounds of ‘sucking’ have stopped emanating from my radio…

  12. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 12
    25 February 2013 at 11:37 am

    Matthew Hooton talking this morning on Radionz in his usual disparaging way about anything leftish. Says Labour encouraged Solid Energy into – trendy and liberal ideas – to expand into.
    Sounds as if it’s all Labour’s fault that Solid Energy is in the poo. How much is Labour responsible for in this debacle?

    I think that the main problem with Labour is that they were constraining themselves to the “Third Way” approach and concentrating on getting an efficient welfare system and encouraging business to go forth and flourish. And businessmen thought that meant that meant that they could all talk their wages up at the same time as they made big ground-breaking decisions. Unfortunately then they were trumped in ground-breaking by the earthquake, and both brought similar long-term destruction that’s hard to recover from.

    • bad12 12.1
      25 February 2013 at 12:07 pm

      It’s what we get for attempting to usurp the role of the big oil companies, the coal to diesel plant in Southland was set to provide some 90 million liters of diesel a year for use within New Zealand,

      The tech associated with this coal to diesel plant also included research,(along with the Australians), into carbon sequesture where the ‘plan’ appears to have been to ‘stash’ enough carbon underground so as to negate the amount of carbon produced from the manufacture process involved in coal to diesel,(exactly how close this research was to actually providing a workable means of taking industrial amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere i am as yet not sure about),

      Big oil through it’s political functionaries allowed the trashing of a large part of ‘think big’, (specially the bits around using the resource to in part escape our imported oil dependency), and, there was a certain Government subsidy which the Slippery lead National Government scrapped,(sorry i forgot the name of this subsidy), which made the Solid Energy coal to diesel plan uneconomic,

      Having scrapped the subsidy National have made the whole coal to diesel scenario uneconomic as the work was completed on the specific understanding of the subsidy being factored into the economics, leaving Solid Energy with the debt of all the research so far undertaken wasted,

      A fire-sale of all the 1000’s of Hectares of land in Southland bought by Solid energy so as to give it access to the billions of tonnes of lignite underneath it will now occur…

  13. Rogue Trooper 13
    25 February 2013 at 1:18 pm

    …let it burn, it will anyway before too long,
    Time’s a Revelator
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4LdjEObjGo

    lean’d over to ol’ Matthew Henry the other day behind the armchair Viper;
    16: a, luxury. b,covetousness. c,ambition.
    -Nativity In Vitae (not the created world or that of people)
    luxury doesn’t “pay too well” (too much chocolate, or…steroids…caffeine…maybe Greece)

    watched parts of Bad Lieutenant (with a stiff Cage); not a patch on Keitel, yet when the script is seen through a different lense…it ain’t no Piano sonata.
    Kaiser Chiefs: Angry Mob
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z5kEqRFPwo

    “Be careful how you treat children for their “angel” looks upon the face of God.”

    the other day, a Welcome Swallow whirled round and round
    next day hand-fed two white baby doves on the ground
    today a blackbird pecked around the plantings, very little thrush

    ahhh The Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Power (Johnson-“When Heaven Invades Earth”, Mahesh Chavda, John Sandford et al;)
    or
    for that voodoo you do document patron; “Glimpses of the Devil” : A Psychiatrists’ Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism and Redemption.-M. Scott Peck

    Zebedee do dah, Zebedee Day.

  14. Rogue Trooper 14
    25 February 2013 at 2:35 pm

    ready for a Round Table progressive dinner…
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/international-politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503226&objectid=10867490
    apparently not (patient may be a little feverish)

  15. Tim 15
    25 February 2013 at 6:56 pm

    BREAKING NEWS!

    BUCK-TOOTH PADDY FALLS HEAD-OVER-HEELS FOR TELETUBBY GARNER.

    In tonite’s tree-newz [sic] Paddy Gower, whilst rambling on matters political, made ALL the moves of his predecessor (“Dunk” – otherwise known as the political sage, former closet mentor, lover and leader of a Mihi, and thunderdog, cock-sucker, and persuader of the Houghton Bay harrier, amongst others.) Holding his hands in cupped fashion (desperate to show wedding ring), Paddy delivered his report with the intonation, framing and commitment to journalistic integrity his predecessor and trainer ‘Dunk’ had ingrained.
    A replay of Paddy’s delivery in tonight’s ‘Tree Newz’ report that was fed through the latest comparator technology with Duncan Garner’s last 3 News reports showed insignificant differences.

    ‘Sources’ are understood to be in negotiations with Radio New Zealand’s Nine-to-Noon producer for a spot on Monday’s political commentary, and with with THE ‘every-person’s nicest man on Earth’ Jim Mora to determine whether a 4pm-5pm ‘slot’ might not be appropriate now that Paddy has been able to demonstrate a media profile that equals those of Mike Williams, Jose Pagani and Mathew Hooten in the delivery of ‘expert opinion to the masses’. We were able to catch up with the nicest man on Earth (‘Good-guy Jum’) during a brief lay-by on his next mission to Mars whilst speaking with producers who were anxious to maintain their ‘aura’ of political neutrality.

    Buck-Tooth Paddy was unavailable for comment, but [media sauces] said it is unlikely he would be interested in extending his radio commitments since he’d recently purchased a new wardrobe based primarily on a ‘baby-blue’ hue. He was also anxious to display his persona at every opportunity in a bid to convince the wider public that he isn’t the desperate, egotistical little wanker with bleached teeth that audience polling amongst ‘other sauces’ have determined – particularly with the younger demographic.

  16. bad12 16
    25 February 2013 at 8:15 pm

    Vanity Fear: Seen on TV1 tonight Slippery the Prime Minister with a fresh dye job on the hair, (including the new bits plucked from between the anal crevice of a blind donkey called Brucie)…

  17. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 17
    25 February 2013 at 8:29 pm

    Interesting interview with Jeremy Grantham tonight. Radionz on Nights – Window on the World

    Monday 25 February: Jeremy Grantham
    Peter Day hears from an investment expert called Jeremy Grantham who has spent decades thinking about some of the big issues that influence our existence and the global economy. He thinks that the assumptions which have powered the industrial revolution for two centuries are looking pretty threadbare. So, how do we manage technological progress in a world of finite resources?

    • Tim 17.1
      25 February 2013 at 8:34 pm

      Yep Nose…. sanity and interest prevails on RNZ between 5pm and 9am when the cult of personality takes over briefly with a couple of hosts trying to show just how clever they are

      • Tim 17.1.1
        25 February 2013 at 8:37 pm

        (i.e. the cult of personality reigns between 9am and 5pm). Its a shame that more people haven’t discovered “Nights”. It’s a great alternative to T dot V

      • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 17.1.2
        25 February 2013 at 9:22 pm

        Don’t be too tough Tim. Radionz has got to appeal to the greater NZ public if they are to hold their attention for a while from going to the big tongue-flappers, the witty fast boys and girls diverting the pundits with trivia. Then there are the nostalgic music stations, that play plaintive love songs from last century.

        The Radionz crowd usually have a good mix of fact, informed opinion, and you can keep up to date with perhaps tv showing the sites and faces, and newspapers physical or internet giving the more detailed stories of the day, and the good ones also useful fact and background.

  18. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 18
    25 February 2013 at 8:43 pm

    I know someone who is turning 65 and is blessing reaching this age so she doesn’t have to deal with the WINZ demands and unpleasant people any more. It’s hard when you need an invalid’s benefit. Everything is to be questioned these days.

    When Labour talks blithely about the old age pension going up to 70, they are just doing another ideological move away from really useful and pragmatic social policy in a way to equal Roger Douglas.

  19. Puddleglum 19
    25 February 2013 at 9:33 pm

    The Government apparently knew that Solid Energy had ‘diversification plans’ in 2009; refused to provide $1bn in funding for them; learned in 2011 of Solid Energy’s problems in a scoping study for the introduction of the mixed ownership model and yet …

    … went to the electorate claiming that it could reap billions from the sales of shares in State owned enterprises (and promised to spend those billions in multiple ways).

    In retrospect, it’s a pity someone didn’t ask John Key to ‘Show me the money!’, or at least make an OIA request about any scoping studies of the worth of the SOEs that were on the block.

  20. logie97 20
    25 February 2013 at 10:29 pm

    High dollar / exchange rate.
    Who benefits from it? Apparently the NZ Dlr is viewed as the new gold by the foreign dealers. They have been quoted as saying “Let’s have some fun with it…” Leaving aside the obscenity of that, now, just saying, someone in NZ had a packet of spare foreign currency five to 10 years ago and had bought up large on the Kiwi at its low, they’d now be in a position to see it climbing to an all time high and could at some stage, make a further killing if they were to sell it for a “now lower valued” foreign currency… apart from the banks, who else in NZ might be in a position to take advantage of it? Makes you wonder.
    Is the government able to act to change the exchange rate? Just wondering, ’cause someone must be able to influence the exchange rate and lower it if they had the will, or the inclination, to do so.

    • felixviper 20.1
      25 February 2013 at 11:04 pm

      Exactly logie. It’s very lazy of our media to refer to the PM as a former currency trader when none of them have asked when he quit.

    • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 20.2
      26 February 2013 at 11:20 am

      logie 97
      See piece I copied from JB Were report in ‘Key shoots backwards’ today about 11am.

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    Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?
    David Farrar  writes –  The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election
    PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Criminal ecocide
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?
    Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Long Tunnel or Long Con?
    Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Smoke And Mirrors.
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    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • What is Mexico doing about climate change?
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    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • State of humanity, 2024
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    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Govt’s Wellington tunnel vision aims to ease the way to the airport (but zealous promoters of cycl...
    Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • The case for cultural connectedness
    A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Useful context on public sector job cuts
    David Farrar writes –    The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated.   While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
    Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 days ago

  • Govt ignored economic analysis of smokefree reversal
    Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • True Blue.
    True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Who is running New Zealand’s foreign policy?
    While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #15
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 7, 2024 thru Sat, April 13, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Feline Friends and Fragile Fauna The Complexities of Cats in New Zealand’s Conservation Efforts

    Cats, with their independent spirit and beguiling purrs, have captured the hearts of humans for millennia. In New Zealand, felines are no exception, boasting the highest national cat ownership rate globally [definition cat nz cat foundation]. An estimated 1.134 million pet cats grace Kiwi households, compared to 683,000 dogs ...

    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    5 days ago

  • Or is that just they want us to think?
    Nice guy, that Peter Williams. Amiable, a calm air of no-nonsense capability, a winning smile. Everything you look for in a TV presenter and newsreader.I used to see him sometimes when I went to TVNZ to be a talking head or a panellist and we would yarn. Nice guy, that ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Fact Brief – Did global warming stop in 1998?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Did global warming stop in ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Arguing over a moot point.
    I have been following recent debates in the corporate and social media about whether it is a good idea for NZ to join what is known as “AUKUS Pillar Two.” AUKUS is the Australian-UK-US nuclear submarine building agreement in which … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    6 days ago

  • No Longer Trusted: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    Turning Point: “What has turned me away from the mainstream news media is the very strong message that its been sending out for the last few years.” “And what message might that be?” “That the people who own it, the people who run it, and the people who provide its content, really don’t ...
    Bowalley Road
    6 days ago

  • Mortgage rates at 10% anyone?
    No – nothing about that in PM Luxon’s nine-point plan to improve the lives of New Zealanders. But beyond our shores Jamie Dimon, the long-serving head of global bank J.P. Morgan Chase, reckons that the chances of a goldilocks soft landing for the economy are “a lot lower” than the ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    6 days ago

  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
    The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 mins ago

  • Judicial appointments announced
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    60 mins ago

  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
    Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa.  The summit is co-hosted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago

  • Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
    A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago

  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.    “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago

  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
    Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago

  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    16 hours ago

  • Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
    The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago

  • Taupō takes pole position
    The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago

  • Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners.  “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government backing mussel spat project
    The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government focused on getting people into work
    Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
    The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
    The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
    RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Inflation coming down, but more work to do
    Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
    Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
    Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector.    "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
    The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
    Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
    Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ ties
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.  During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner.  The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Finance Minister travels to Washington DC
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlords
    The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being considered
    State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel.    “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says.    "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plans
    Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand Chair
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board.   “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti.  “I have asked her to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Roads of National Significance planning underway
    The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Navigating an unstable global environment
    New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States.    “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for Winter
    Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and the US: an ever closer partnership
    New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Joint US and NZ declaration
    April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperation
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research.   “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Government redress for Te Korowai o Wainuiārua
    The Government is continuing the bipartisan effort to restore its relationship with iwi as the Te Korowai o Wainuiārua Claims Settlement Bill passed its first reading in Parliament today, says Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith. “Historical grievances of Te Korowai o Wainuiārua relate to 19th century warfare, land purchased or taken ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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